Empire

"... to maintain our empire abroad requires resources and
commitments that will inevitably undercut our domestic democracy
and in the end produce a military dictatorship or its civilian
equivalent. The founders of our nation understood this well and
tried to create a form of government - a republic - that would
prevent this from occurring. But the combination of huge standing
armies, almost continuous wars, military Keynesianism, and ruinous
military expenses have destroyed our republican structure in favor
of an imperial presidency. We are on the cusp of losing our
democracy for the sake of keeping our empire. Once a nation is
started down that path, the dynamics that apply to all empires come
into play - isolation, overstretch, the uniting of forces
opposed to imperialism, and bankruptcy. Nemesis stalks our life as
a free nation." pg 279. Chalmers
Johnson's: Nemesis.

U.S. global power, as presently conceived by the
overwhelming majority of the U.S. establishment, is unsustainable. To
place
American power on a firmer footing requires putting it on a more
limited footing. Despite the lessons of Iraq, this is something
that American policymakers - Democrat and Republican, civilian and
military - still find extremely difficult to think about." Anatol
Lieven.

'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own
reality. And while you're studying that reality –
judiciously, as you will – we'll act again, creating other
new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will
sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be
left to just study what we do.'" Ron Suskind quoting an
unnamed senior Bush White House official. (2002)

...how often do empires end well, really ? They live
vampirically by feeding off others until, sooner of later, they
begin to feed on themselves, to suck their own blood, to hollow
themselves out. Soon or later, they find themselves, as in our
case, economically stressed and militarily extended in wars they
can't afford to win or lose. The
United States of Fear: Tom
Englehardt p183.

"Why should the enormous American military and political
operational centers built in Germany during the past 50 years still
exist? There no longer is a cold war with Russia, or anyone else,
that lends logic to these facilities. Today we find they are used
to eavesdrop on the German chancellor and her government, and on
the German (and other European) peoples – and undoubtedly to
collect economic and industrial intelligence as well." William
Pfaff

Chalmers Johnson video (about an hour.)

Alone in the history of the world, the United States has a
program for global supremacy. It can be found in the 2002 National
Security Strategy (NSS) of the United States and in the governing
doctrine of the United States military: "full-spectrum dominance."
(from Geoffrey Perret's book 'Commander in Chief'

"Empire: nation-state that dominates
other
nation-states and exhibits one or more of the following
characteristics: 1) exploits resources from the lands it dominates,
2) consumes large quantities of resources—amounts that are
disproportionate to the size of its population relative to those of
other nations, 3) maintains a large military that enforces its
policies when more subtle measures fail, 4) spreads its language,
literature, art, and various aspects of its culture throughout its
sphere of influence, 5) taxes not just its own citizens, but also
people in other countries, and 6) imposes its own currency on the
lands under its control.

This definition of “Empire”
was formulated in meetings I held with students at a number of
universities during my book tour in 2005 and 2006. Almost without
exception, the students arrived at the following conclusion: The
United States exhibits all the characteristics of a global empire.
Addressing each of the above points... "
The Secret History of the
American Empire: John Perkins.

"If it were necessary to give the briefest definition of
imperialism we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly
stage of capitalism" Lenin

despite a range of setbacks, no one in
Washington’s power elite -- Senators Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders being
the exceptions that prove the rule -- seems to have the slightest urge
to abandon the role of sole superpower or even to back off it in any
significant way." Michael
Klare

"From 1945 to 2003, the United States attempted to
overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than
30 populist-nationalist movements fighting against intolerable
regimes. In the process, the US bombed some 25 countries, caused
the end of life for several million people, and condemned many
millions more to a life of agony and despair."
William Blum

Staying Bush's course means the end of
our republic, rejection of international
law, and it confirms
our path to empire.
It should now
be obvious that we are a lot less safe now. War
has become increasingly more destructive and our
fate could be worse than those which have gone before. We are, as
Noam
Chomsky points out, on a path to an "Armageddon of our own
making". See Chalmers Johnson's "Republic or Empire" in the
January, 2007 issue of Harpers Magazine or his book trilogy:
Blowback; The Sorrows of Empire; and Nemesis. (Links
below.)

Resisting the Empire:

Documentary Filmmaker John Pilger on Struggles for
Freedom in Israel-Palestine, Diego Garcia, Latin America and South
Africa

The renowned investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker
John Pilger
has spent the better part of his life documenting American empire
and the
resistance it has met. Pilger has made over fifty documentaries and
is the
author, most recently, of "Freedom
Next Time: Resisting the
Empire," which
looks at ongoing struggles in Afghanistan, Diego Garcia, India,
Palestine,
and South Africa. Pilger joins us for the hour to play excerpts of
his
documentaries and speak of the struggles he has covered. *

Dark
Ages
America, the Final Phase of Empire by Morris Berman. Like any
book at variance with the official story, this one has taken a lot
of hits. You need to read it for yourself to see the depth of
source material, the insight, and the poor outlook for the US
empire.